30 Day VG Meme

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Perhaps the first game you might have played was a 2D Platformer. It might be a tiresome genre, especially its saturation in the 90's. I chose 2D over 3D over different reasons. The amount of 2D Action Platformers that are great surpass many 3D Action Platformers, for example would you rather play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic Adventure 2? For me, one is better than the other, and maybe for you too. If you picked the latter, that's okay but the former has great gameplay, controls and has a lot of replay value. I don't think I could say that about SA2.

Everyone knows about Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Rayman, etc. but how much do you hear about Headdy, Alex Kidd, Gex, Bonk, and Lester Chaykin? The world of 2D platforming is richer than people think and still remains an innovative genre after all these years.

It's not a deep genre. People say physics and AI can only be improved. The thing is I can play a racing game at any time of day and have fun.

There are many different types of racers. Arcade racers like Need for Speed and Ridge Racer, Racing simulators like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Open-world like Burnout Paradise and Forza Horizon, and unrealistic kart racers like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing.

Cars are endearing to me and when in doubt, I race.

Honorable Mentions

First-Person Shooters - It used to be an inventive genre until like 2005 and it started to become trite. Today, there's often the occasional shooter that is inspired and fantastic like Metro 2033, but it's often the same Call of Duty crap.

3D Action Platformer - I had a hard time choosing 2D or 3D but I'm happy with my choice.

Not the typical platformer. Super Metroid is dense, surreal and amazing. It's basically bent on exploration, rather than getting to the end of each level. Easily a masterpiece and one of the best games on the Super Nintendo,

Honorable Mentions

Dynamite Headdy - An epic underrated platformer. I haven't played it on an actual Genesis and the diagonal directions so far are tough. Maybe it's better with an actual Genesis d-pad.

Super Mario Bros, 3 - "World" may be more sophisticated but "3" was Nintendo getting it right. The platforming is fluent and the level design is great.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - An example of Sega getting it right. Turn off Tails, he hinders your gameplay.

3 tracks, 2 cars, maybe that is all you need. Daytona USA is a perfectly balanced arcade racer that was ahead of its time. The automatic transmission is good for beginners, but if you're really good, the manual transmission can help you win the race more efficiently, depending on how you know how to use it. It's showing its age with those textures, models and draw distance, as it is nearly 20 years old. Remember back then, this was so mindblowing that not even the Saturn can recreate it perfectly.

The Saturn port I recommend is the Japanese Circuit Edition, if you're willing to spend more money, but for everyone, the XBLA and PSN versions are good and closer to the arcade. It's simply not as satisfying as playing it on an actual Daytona arcade cabinet. I've seen one in DisneyQuest in Downtown Disney and an arcade in Rehobeth Beach.

Honorable Mentions

Forza Horizon - What can I say? Addictive gameplay, stunning graphics for 2005 hardware, and a flair of personality. Best soundtrack to a game since Jet Set Radio Future, well sort of as I don't like the Skrillex track.

Gran Turismo 2 - My favorite racing sim. While 5 is easy-peasy, in 2 you either win big or lose everything. I'm stuck with an awesome Subaru currently in the game and need to learn how to control it. Challenging, yes, with lots if replay value.

Need for Speed II SE - This one or High Stakes on PC. I have so much nostalgia from NFS2SE it's not even funny. I should take the rose-colored glasses off one day as I'm basing this on nostalgia.

This game is absurd. Everything about it sucks. Poor gameplay, poor controls, poor graphics, just poor. It's goshdarn racist, too. The racism goes to absurd lengths. For example, when you kill a Black person, he makes chimp noises, which the game credits them as "recorded on location with real Negroes." The developers made a recruiting tool and even they can't take it seriously. This warrants a full review for someday, as I have much more to say about it.

Honorable Mentions

Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing - This game has it all. No AI, a multi-colored lamp post, broken levels, and broken English.

I took a day off the meme to focus on other stuff. Now I'm back. What can I say about Dog? He is really cool-looking and cute. There is some ingenious design team at Valve, making a giant robot and futurist turrets look and sound cute. So cute.

It's been a long two-day delay due to personal issues, but now I'm back.

This franchise helped the FPS genre become more complex and intricate. It did not only make puzzle-solving more acceptable in the genre, and overall create an immersive experience, it was also the franchise that gave light to Counter-Strike, Team Fortress and Portal. It launched a loyal and growing mod community, spawned the fantastic sandbox game Garry's Mod, etc.

I have yet to play Opposing Force and Blue Shift as they weren't that important. I am speaking about Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Episode One, and Episode Two, the first two being timeless classics and the latter two being worthy additions to the story. I am eagerly awaiting for the announcement for Half-Life 3 as the story left on such a cliffhanger for about 6 years now... That's over half a decade!

Honorable Mentions

The Sims - I am not going to lie. I recently renewed my interest in The Sims after I began playing the CD-ROM of the first game I found at the thrift store. It's absolutely addictive and The Sims' fanbase shouldn't just be limited to teenage girls thinking they're playing dollhouse.

If you are a fan of animation and point-and-click games, this is for you. With an eccentric cast of characters, pop culture references that aren't annoying and a sense of humor even I would approve, Stay Tooned! is truly an underlooked gem. I've wasted maybe hours just clicking on the different objects, playing the different mini-games, etc. Some of my favorite moments I remember (and the last time I played this was in 2010) include an exact representation of how an episode of Seinfeld goes, a parody of Beck's "Where It's At" featuring chefs, and even a spitting on Michael Bolton. Also, once you've beat the game, make sure to play through it again so you can see even more stuff!

I have certainly played other games before, but this is the earliest I remember loving. More of a software for animation than a straightforward game, 3D Movie Maker (or as I like to call it, 3dmm) looks crude after 18 years, but it was so intuitive to use at the time.

A major thing that made me keep playing it was the community that still used it after all these years and made fantastic films. I was so happy to know that other people used the same software and pushed its boundaries when I discovered 3dmm.com back in 2004. The community have been assholes to me in the past. It used to bother me, but now I could care less. I was making art films, attempted to make stereoscopic 3D, and used the program for different forms of media by the time I was 15. Truly a timeless software that is today reaching to a new generation. I tried Source Filmmaker once but it wasn't as easy to pick up as 3dmm.

I don't tend to admire women in video games as they are often misogynistic stereotypes like the damsel in distress, the butch quasi-lesbian, and so on. But if I had to choose one woman, it would most definetly be Chun Li.

For one thing she is tough as a good character and playable character. She basically wants to join the tournament to avenge her father, and give the perpetrator (Bison) a taste of his own poison. Not only she is a solid fighter but pretty attractive as well. Most of the time, if not all, I use Chun Li in battle.

If there is anything that is 100% masculine in a video game, it is Duke Nukem. Duke barley has any depth inside him, other than his womanizing MO, his blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. Not to mention his balls of steel and likeable one-liners. Some of these are taken from films like Army of Darkness and They Live, but we like to hear the stuff we already heard elsewhere this time from his smooth voice. His love life is flawed, too many girls and all for looks, but he is one bad-ass hero, but not my favorite as you'll read why later.

Pixar is to computer-animated films, as Valve is to computer games. The Valve games I have played are Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, HL2 Episode One, HL2 Episode Two, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Portal 2. The Valve games I have beaten are Half-Life 2 (twice), HL2 Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Portal 2. So I guess I'm being a fanboy here.

Other than fathering Steam and celebrating mods, Valve does not operate like any other corporation. They take their time making games, made the amazing Source engine, and turned to the hardware industry with their upcoming Steambox. I am still waiting for Half-Life 3.

The Return of the Honorable Mentions

id Software - This comes in a close second. Innovator of the first-person shooter, id is totally one of the greats.

Sega AM2 - AM2 made some of Sega's best games like After Burner, Outrun, Space Harrier, Daytona USA, and Virtua Fighter. Did I mention Shenmue?

Nintendo EAD - Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development have made some innovative titles and continues to thrive today.

Music can take you places. It takes control of the mind and soul and does funny things. Re listening to a song can take you to when and where you first heard it. I had a hard time deciding which game theme I like, but a couple of months ago, I rediscovered The Sims and their crazy scenarios and wonderful music.

Very very few songs have me close to crying, and this is one of them. It is just peaceful and tranquil and hopeful and takes me to a place where I want to stay for long, but after two minutes and six seconds, I am out of that place. An awfully short time to stay. Kudos to Jerry Martin and Marc Russo for writing such a splendid theme, and the rest of the game's music is fantastic.

I can't stand the theme they cooked up for The Sims 3. It's bloated and uninspired, derivative of The Sims 2 University's neighborhood theme and the key changes don't suit me. Then again, the theme I picked as my favorite is derivative of "O Canada" in some way or another. Oh well.

Honorable Mentions

"Still Alive" from Portal - Another song that almost had me in tears. There is no electronic ballad like this.

"Overworld Theme" from The Legend of Zelda - LoZ always had a great score throughout the years, but this immortal classic composed in 1986 tickles the adventurer in me.

"At Doom's Gate" from Doom - Also known as the E1M1 music. Yes, it derived from Metallica's "Master of Puppets" but its quicker and more accessible while it stays enjoyable.

The game I've played the most is a relative statement. I can't keep track of how much time I spent with all the games I've played in the 18 years I have lived. Currently, my most-played game on Steam is Team Fortress 2, clocking in 63 hours of playtime.

I have been playing TF2 before it was F2P. This game was a riot. People from all different walks of life play together, which given my cynical self I would usually hate this but I like it. I was introduced to Bronies through this game right after season 1 ended. I was given a heavy dose of Duke Nukem quotes on one of the servers I used to play on. Me and my friends have spray-painted different images on the polygon walls, from Trollfaces to album artwork from Ponies to Blue Screens of Death. To me, and many others, TF2 was the "personal" online multiplayer first-person shooter were it wasn't limited to one group and transcends in ways Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament never have.

Honorable Mentions

Microsoft 3D Movie Maker - Since I used this in an earlier entry, I left this out.

Kirby Air Ride - I saved this for a later subject.

Garry's Mod - Totally the best sandbox game out there. Wasted about 52 hours on this.

This game is critically and financially overlooked. Although over 1 million copies are sold, most GameCube collectors today overlook it. Most people have the Player's Choice and/or Best Seller repackaging, but I have the original, non-Player's Choice game pretty much CIB. I remember the date I bought it: October 1st, 2003. I was 8 years old. I loved it then as I love it now.

The game takes a minimalistic approach to racing by only using the analog stick and A button. That's it. You can rotate the camera using the C stick but it reverts back once you let go of it. Now people put this game down for its simplicity and cuteness. Those are just things that make it stand out from all racers in that year, and of all time. If you're used to traditional racing games, this won't be easy to pick up and play.

I liked the graphics that kept with its minimalistic approach at a blistering at 60 fps (obviously not as blistering as F-Zero GX). The music is a joy, too.

As a 6 year old, I never got how deep this simple game was, as with many things. When I got older, I started to see depth in all forms of media and ways of life. As I look back on Ms. Pac-Man, it was a darn fine example of what a video game should be.

The mechanics are similar to Pac-Man, but some things are changed around. Each ghost has its own AI, in that any level they change their direction to how you play, unlike its predecessor. Fruit now moves. The maze changes every few levels. But the basic gameplay remains the same.

The sound design has been changed to something more feminine. They are more subdued and wet sounds as the first had more harsher yet more iconic tones.

As always, nothing beats playing the arcade game on the original arcade cabinet. There are many 20th anniversary cabs that is compiled with Galaga and almost at every arcade near me. The original cabinet is harder to come by but I found one in Rehobeth Beach. Unlike the newer cabs, these don't give you a Continue screen for you to put more quarters. Once you lose all your lives, it's Game Over, period. That sort of unforgiving nature is lost in games today.

Cutscenes come in two forms, rendered on the engine, or a full-motion video. I prefer the former, as those types of cutscenes are usually the most impressive. This is one of them.

Dead or Alive 2 was a graphical powerhouse for the Dreamcast and for 2000. The clothing, I can say, were very "alive." It was fun to put a female fighter above an air vent and see her... Well... Let's just say it looks interesting.

What better way to show off the power of the engine and the Dreamcast than a compilation of scenes from the story mode as well as gameplay? That's in the introduction. You got this loud song by some British rock band you wouldn't tell if it's in Japanese, and, on some copies, Kasumi is naked. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing if I don't have that on my copy. This intro is perfectly timed with the music even when it has to load in the middle of it. If you are experiencing sync issues when you play it, clean the disc and/or lens on the DC.

Honorable Mentions

Intro from "Battlefield 1942" - Full-motion video with epic music. Too bad the graphics in the game are far from the intro.

Ending from "Portal 2" - This was rewarding.

Intro from "Need for Speed II" - When your FMV opening is live-action instead of CGI and features great cinematography behind the compression, you know it's class.